Tag: eric blumenfeld

“Get out of town,” said Cole Porter. “Don’t fence me in,” he said, also. The guy had serious wanderlust, and when it’s nice out, so do we. This weekend Property photographer Laura Kicey went to the former Scranton Lace Factory for another Abandoned America photo workshop. The photographs she got are absolutely gorgeous, but she also learned a bit about what’s happening to the building–which is more than to the SS United States, the subject of her last extensive photo gallery of this sort.

Though it looks abandoned, the building–which was featured on National Geographic’s Abandoned program–has had some recent good fortune: The current owners, Lace Building Affiliates, who purchased it in 2007, have been granted permission to repurpose it, and they have seriously grand plans.

Developer Eric Blumenfeld–who now owns the Divine Lorraine and will apparently do the same NOTHING with it that everyone else has–is having a bad couple of years. His father, who held the key to his credibility, passed away. He’s been going through an ugly divorce. He’s out of his Gladwyne mansion, where he kept his expensive car collection, and has been seen around town in an unflattering hat that looks like this one.

And, to make matters worse, Blumenfeld’s former business partner Ron Caplan has threatened to collect on a defaulted loan to the tune of $37 million, though Blumenfeld’s lawyer challenges Caplan’s authority to do so. Still, the legal battle between the two continues on other fronts, a sad turn of events for two men who were once so close.

Remember the Divine Lorraine? That big, beautiful, abandoned building on North Broad Street that Mayor Nutter said was a cornerstone of Philadelphia’s revival and that developer Eric Blumenfeld has such big dreams for? It was featured yesterday on the national website Web Urbanist, and called, “one of Philadelphia’s most intriguing buildings,” “a Victorian beauty” and “an enticing site for urban exploration.”

Of course, it’s not supposed to be “visited” by urban explorers anymore, but given that its conversion remains stalled, it may only be a matter of time before people find their way inside again. The issue seems to be funding. Blumenfeld has applied for a $7.5 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program matching fund from the state, but didn’t get it in the first round. We put a call in to see if he wants to talk about the latest. More →